Package updates on a slow connection.

x33a · 2010-11-23 08:52:15

Folks, i am posting a rather convenient way for upgrading packages, when the internet speed isn't too high.

I recently moved to a new location, and there isn't any broadband provider here. So, i am having to make do with a excruciatingly slow gprs connection.

Initially i tried to do the usual pacman -Syu method for updating the system. But, this wasn't very convenient as the connection timed out often (gprs trouble), and pacman didn't behave properly, when pressing ctrl-c to abort the process.

Then I found on the forums, a very good pacman switch --print or -p, which prints the actual location of the packages.
Now, to update the system, i do

pacman -Syy
pacman -Sup > arch.update

This saves the location of the packages to be updated, in a text file named arch.update.

Now, i simply download the packages using

wget -i arch.update

This way, if i have to interrupt a download (due to connection problems, mainly), then a simple ctrl-c does the trick. And, i can continue downloading that package later with wget's --continue option.

After the packages are downloaded, i move them to /var/cache/pacman/pkg. And a simple

pacman -Su

updates the system

Since the speed is very slow, 2-3 KBps, it takes many hours to download a few Megabytes of updates, but this does the trick.

I am just praying, that i get a faster connection soon

stqn · 2010-11-23 11:57:53

Maybe this delta mirror would be of interest to you.

karol · 2010-11-23 13:39:24

+1 for delta repo.

'pacman -Sw':
-w, --downloadonly download packages but do not install/upgrade anything

Maybe you can download the packages at a different location, put them on a USB stick and install them at home?

Last edited by karol (2010-11-23 13:40:44)

falconindy · 2010-11-23 14:08:40

karol wrote:

+1 for delta repo.
'pacman -Sw':
-w, --downloadonly download packages but do not install/upgrade anything
Maybe you can download the packages at a different location, put them on a USB stick and install them at home?

Not sure how that's really convenient... he would need to bring his local DB with him to figure out what to download at the other location.

Perhaps a cron job to run -Syuw overnight and then you can manually install the next day? Arch isn't really a friendly distro if your internet connection is slow.

karol · 2010-11-23 14:15:54

@ falconindy
I mean he can do

wget -i arch.update

e.g. at work. He only needs to bring the file with the urls.

x33a · 2010-11-23 16:58:14

Hmm.., i had heard of the delta option for pacman, but didn't know that a repo existed. I'll take a look at that. Thanks, stqn.

@ karol,
unfortunately, i don't have access to internet anywhere else, so i am out of luck, at least for now

PS: The good thing is that i have a limited number of packages. And the heavy ones, i've put to IgnorePkg, so i don't have to download hundreds of MBs of updates.

skunktrader · 2010-11-23 17:37:03

x33a wrote:

PS: The good thing is that i have a limited number of packages. And the heavy ones, i've put to IgnorePkg, so i don't have to download hundreds of MBs of updates.

One day your system is guaranteed to break then. If you update a small shared library that requires the "heavy ones" to be rebuilt but you have blocked them, then your heavy apps will crash until you update them. Just the nature of a rolling release.

x33a · 2010-11-24 05:38:02

skunktrader wrote:

One day your system is guaranteed to break then. If you update a small shared library that requires the "heavy ones" to be rebuilt but you have blocked them, then your heavy apps will crash until you update them. Just the nature of a rolling release.

Yup, i know that. But the thing is that, the only packages i have in IgnorePkg are go-openoffice, which i rarely use. and jre, jdk. These are the heaviest packages, in my system.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-11-23 08:52:15

Package updates on a slow connection.

#2 2010-11-23 11:57:53

Re: Package updates on a slow connection.

#3 2010-11-23 13:39:24

Re: Package updates on a slow connection.

#4 2010-11-23 14:08:40

Re: Package updates on a slow connection.

#5 2010-11-23 14:15:54

Re: Package updates on a slow connection.

#6 2010-11-23 16:58:14

Re: Package updates on a slow connection.

#7 2010-11-23 17:37:03

Re: Package updates on a slow connection.

#8 2010-11-24 05:38:02

Re: Package updates on a slow connection.

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